Redefining health care with advanced IT

It’s amazing what a difference a day can make. IT professional Amrit Singh found that out last year when he attended the Northwell Health IT Virtual Career Fair.

At the Virtual Career Fair, Amrit visited a variety of virtual “booths” that enabled him to explore opportunities in data security, IT infrastructure, project management, clinical informatics, medical informatics and more. When he discovered the area that aligned with his skills and experience, he was able to speak directly with Northwell Health IT staff and even secured an interview.

“The opportunity to talk to recruiters and be in contact with management was great”, Amrit explains. “I really liked the fact that I could speak directly to hiring managers.”

Following the IT Virtual Career Fair, Amrit was offered the opportunity to join our IT team as an IT Project Administrator for the Office of the CIO. He’s contributing his expertise to an impressive group of more than 1,500 skilled professionals who are implementing and supporting advanced clinical and technological systems to help one of the nation’s largest and most forward-thinking healthcare organizations redefine care.

Specifically, he’s just taken on a new role that gives him the opportunity to make a significant impact on our system through the application of his advanced IT knowledge. “I just finished up a project with the site CIO team to create a report that can be pulled from our PRISM system,” says Amrit. “It allows visibility as to when projects are going live at specific sites.”

Amrit took on this new role because of the great potential for growth and fulfillment it offered.

“I enjoy everything I do with my current position because I am constantly learning in the role,” Amrit tells us. “Since I started, I have gained so much hands-on experience that I can take with me in the future. Northwell Health has always embodied putting their patients first which is what draws me to the organization.”

We’re holding another IT Virtual Career Fair on September 27th ! Interested in seeing what you can accomplish as part of this innovative team? Amrit encourages you to come to the Virtual Career Fair and get in front of Northwell Health’s IT decision makers. “Make sure you are to the point,” Amrit advises. “Many people attend the Virtual Career Fair, and sometimes hiring managers or recruiters are just looking for what you want to do.”

So take the first step on your next professional journey at the Northwell Health IT Virtual Career Fair. As Amrit says, “If you want to see how far a simple chat can take you, come to the Virtual Career Fair. You could end up being one of the people working in this organization at the forefront of healthcare change and patient health.”

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The top 3 things you need to know about our new Wellness program.

1. We have a new partner

Virgin Pulse purchased ShapeUp in 2016. As the new partner for myWellness, they have numerous enhanced functions compared to the previous platform and are the leading vendor in their class. Northwell Health is passionate about keeping our employees and the communities we serve, safe and well. The new myWellness program is an excellent tool to support total well-being based on upgrades to content and resource accessibility. The best part about registering for the new platform? A free personal activity tracker along with a robust mobile app for easy access to tracking on personal devices.

“We believe that caring for our patients begins with caring for our people. We strive to offer resources such as myWellness to support our vision of the healthiest workforce in healthcare.”

-Niha Malcomson, Manager, Employee Wellness

2. It provides so much more

The new myWellness platform is highly interactive. Each day, members earn rewards points daily for tracking healthy habits like hours slept, steps, drinking water and much more. The refreshed program incorporates three basic steps to support behavior change to help employees reach their wellness goals. Step 1: Get specific. Step 2: Make it easy. Step 3: Trigger the behavior. When we focus on building tiny habits, we increase the likelihood of making lasting change. All of our employees are encouraged to take the 100% confidential, voluntary Health Risk Assessment to receive feedback on their current well-being status and to drive the creation of personalized content in the myWellness program. Personal challenges – ranging from getting more steps to tracking sleep with friends on the platform – are easy to create and yield additional ways to earn reward points. The PROGRAMS page on myWellness is a valuable tool for employees to centrally access a wide range of health and well-being resources available to them throughout Northwell Health.

3. And our employees are pumped

Since the launch of the upgraded myWellness program on August 1, there are nearly 25,000 Northwell Health employees registered, and the number continues to grow each day. Approximately 45% of the registered users were registered in the previous platform, the remainder are new users of myWellness. The interactivity and gamification, customized content, individual and enterprise-wide challenges, will all play a role in keeping employees engaged with their health through this program. Our partner, Virgin Pulse, also provides content updates periodically throughout the year to keep the content fresh.

Keeping our employees happy and healthy is one of our top priorities. We understand that the balance between work, life, wellness, and everything else is a tricky one, and we want our employees to feel support within each area. That’s why our employee wellness team continues to enhance our programs and will be on the road visiting sites throughout September and October encouraging our employees to take the next step in their health and to join our newly refreshed platform.

Welcome to “An Appointment With,” where we sit down one on one with leadership, doctors, nurses and more to bring you their stories. Today we’re meeting SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Ramon Soto, who was the most recent winner of the AHHE Hospital Executive of the Year Award.

How did you know that coming to Northwell Health was the right career move for you?

I didn’t at first. I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Patchogue. When I heard about the Chief Marketing Officer position at Northwell Health, then known as North Shore-LIJ Health System, I just remembered the small health care company from my childhood. After doing my research, hearing Michael Dowling speak, and learning about the advancements at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Hofstra School of Medicine, I fell in love. I saw the power of this organization and I knew there were stories waiting to be told. This is the best job I’ve ever had.

How has the rebranding process at Northwell Health impacted the organization?

Fundamentally, our hospitals used to run regionally and people associated themselves with the single hospital they worked for. Now people feel like they are all together, and there is a sense of community. This has helped improve our engagement scores. As separate entities, people didn’t know who we were and how we were all connected and now they see all of our locations as one. There has been an undeniable unifying effect on the inside, and ability to shine as a destination health care system.

What is your perspective on leadership?

90% of leadership traits are trainable and there are things you can do throughout your career to be a good leader. My philosophy is: don’t just “dabble” in anything, take it on with all you’ve got. You should know your stuff and strive to be the subject matter experts. When making a decision, you should bring everyone together to help. Leverage diversity of thought and unity in action. If you give people a voice, the execution is always better. If you can adapt your leadership style to fit the needs of your audience as well as the organization, you will be able to grow and flourish.

You recently earned the AHHE Hospital Executive of the Year Award. What have you learned from that experience and what did that mean to you?

The most important part of the awards evening was that my family was there and I was able to reflect on my heritage. This award made me think of my father. He came from Puerto Rico when he was 12 and he didn’t speak a word of English. He pulled himself up from poverty by going to school at night and working hard. He believed you always had a choice: work a job you enjoy or work a job as a chore. He also said to always stretch yourself, whenever you think you can’t do more, you can. His wisdom helped shape who I am today. I went back to get my MBA at 40 even though I had a successful career because of the drive he instilled in me.

Many people of diverse backgrounds have stories like this, and that’s why in terms of diversity in the workplace, it’s important to include individuals from all backgrounds based on their experience and what they’ve done. We need qualified candidates and we need to choose the best of the best. If we don’t include everyone in that pool of candidates, we’re missing out.

However, no institution should ever settle for people who aren’t the top or relax their standards to bring on talent that isn’t qualified.

What is an interesting fact that people should know about you?

I had a perm in high school!

We invite you to come back for the next moment in our Appointment With… blog!

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From EMT to Director of Patient Care Services

Meet Madalyn Frank-Cooper, Director of Patient Care Services at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills. We sat down with her to talk about her career progression and to simply understand why she loves her job. Here is what she has to say.

Why did you fall in love with Emergency Services?

I first fell in love with EMS when I was working as a medical assistant many years ago. One day, while I was working, we called for an emergent transfer for a patient to the hospital. I was in awe of the EMT’s professionalism, their quick and thorough assessment skills, and the transfer of the patient to the hospital setting. I next joined EMS, and a short time later enrolled in nursing school to further my education and become an RN. I began my career at Lenox Hill Hospital in the ED. I was fascinated by the coordinated, quick decision making of the inter-professional team in this fast paced environment. I was a clinical nurse for approximately 5 years and was afforded the opportunity to become a clinical liaison, and next found my path in leadership.

What is your role as Director of Patient Care Services?

My role as Director of Patient Care Services is to ensure the best possible care to our patients and to provide our employees with the knowledge and support to do so. This includes promoting an exceptional patient experience, employee engagement, quality outcomes, and a safe environment. I feel this role is important because enables and promotes avenues for advocacy for patients, families, and staff.

How do you continue to push your employees to provide top quality of care for our patients?

Nursing is dynamic and can drive change. Placing the patient at the forefront, eliciting feedback from the front line, and explaining the reasons why assist to drive quality of care. Structures we have in place to examine our quality of care include Collaborative Care Councils, Committee work, and focus groups. These structures promote shared governance and provide insight for the care we are delivering.

What projects are you currently working on?

We have the Nurse Activated Stroke Code Project, where using specific criteria, the nurses are empowered to activate the Stroke Code at the patient point of entry. This has shown to be successful in decreasing our door to doctor, and door to imaging time. Early recognition and treatment yield better patient outcomes, increasing the likelihood of a full recovery. Next, we are looking to expand this concept to patients with sepsis and initiate a Nurse Activated Code Sepsis, with the goal of improved outcomes.

We’re redefining health care with IT. Join us at our Virtual Career Fair!

Making health care better is a big deal, and it takes the sharpest minds and most tenacious technology leaders to make it all happen. Our IT team is an impressive group of more than 1,500 skilled professionals implementing and supporting advanced clinical and technological systems for one of the nation’s largest and most forward-thinking healthcare organizations.

Astrid Tucker is one of these amazing people. She attended our IT Virtual Career Fair last year. At this unique event, Astrid was able to visit a wide variety of “booths” where she could explore the many different IT careers available at Northwell Health. At these booths, she spoke with IT staff and leadership and even secured an interview. “I was approached immediately and connected with a manager,” Astrid recalls. “After that, they scheduled a phone interview for me.”

It wasn’t long before Astrid became a key member of the Northwell Health IT team.

“I am currently working in Information Security Governance,” Astrid tells us. “It’s a great team and it brings me in contact with many others throughout the organization.”

Starting on September 27th, we’ll be holding another IT Virtual Career Fair. Astrid encourages anyone interested in an exciting career in IT to register to attend. “Take a look at all the information on Northwell’s IT Virtual Career Fair site”, Astrid advises. “You’ll see that IT is making a big impact on patient care at Northwell Health.”

At this event, you will be able to explore how our IT team helps protect our employees and our patients. Our top IT leaders and staff will be there to answer your questions. And so far, we have over 18 booths ranging from Risk Management to Project Management Applications and Clinical Application Support.

Astrid adds, “If you like technology, you’ll want to attend the Virtual Career Fair. It is a platform to interact with other top tech people and get the opportunity to chat with a possible future manager.”

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My Radiology career at Northwell Health

Written by: Jennifer Lillibridge

Initially, it never occurred to me to consider Tech School. I was going to school to become an accountant and during that time I worked in a small radiology facility. I worked with John, the director of an Ultrasound program. My desk faced the wall and our desks were caddy corner. One day, John approached me and said, “Consider Ultrasound school and forget accounting”. In so many words, I told him to leave me alone. He responded, “OK, sit in the corner for the rest of your life”. I will never forget how I felt in that moment. I started to pay more attention to the Tech’s and each modality. Ultrasound interested me because there is an art to it; the probe is your camera. I was hooked and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Ultrasound.

I began my career at Huntington Hospital in 2008. I worked with esteemed Radiologist Dr. Wank and he recruited me to go to Great South Bay Imaging in late 2010 when the practice wasn’t even open yet (I literally wore a hard hat while I interviewed with Bill Brostek). It may sound cliché, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason. Just like with John, Bill saw something in me that day. He hired me as a staff Technologist and then I was promoted to Ultrasound Supervisor and not long after that, I was promoted to Practice Manager of the facility. Over the course of 7 years, I have seen many changes and growth within our facility. From the earliest moments of my career, the team that I have worked with has solidified the reasons I was drawn to this field in the first place. Technologists graduate with a foundation of knowledge in patient care. It is not until this knowledge is put into practice that a Technologist begins to realize that patient care is the most important part of our job. Even though a majority of my day is no longer spent scanning patients, patient care remains my utmost priority.

I often look ahead to the future. Just as I have evolved and grown within my career, the field of radiology will continue to evolve and grow. Northwell Health continuously provides opportunities that break down barriers so that there are no limitations to the level of success we can all achieve. This fosters an environment in which patients can be part of a health system that is a step above the rest. Northwell Health has afforded me opportunities in my career that I never deemed possible, especially when I look back at myself sitting in the corner all of those years ago.

Many people have not only believed in me but instilled a drive that I didn’t know existed within myself. The moment I wake up each morning, I have a mantra I often repeat – I am part of something greater and I am going to make a difference today. I often reiterate this mantra to my team so that we don’t lose sight of our common goal. Simply put, we all entered this field to help people. Patient care is our #1 priority. No matter what an individual’s role is within the health system, that mantra, along with prioritizing patient care, will only enhance the overall success of our Health System. I wear my Northwell Health hat proudly each and every day.

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Looking for the perfect career destination? You’ll wish you were here!

Get ready to pack your bags – or at least your resume. Here are ten great reasons for making the move and joining us at Peconic Bay Medical Center (PBMC).

#1 – Big hospital advantages. Small hospital feel.

We’re a 182-bed acute-care hospital and designated stroke center, and though we’re a regional medical center, we have a strong community focus. Our working environment is close-knit and teammates are more like family.

#2 – A community that will embrace you.

Peconic Bay Medical Center is the area’s trusted source for quality care. We have employees who were actually born here and grew up in the community. But no matter where you’re from, this is a place where you’ll be immediately welcomed. That means you’ll be able to offer a full continuum of care to your friends and neighbors.

“I became a nurse because I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. I was lucky enough to be able to do that for the people who mean the most to me, right here where I grew up. But even if you weren’t born here, you’ll be able to enjoy that connection to your work through patients and staff.”

–Cindy Anderson, RN, Assistant Nurse Manager

#3 – We’re going somewhere fast.

We never settle and are always moving forward. Our award-winning Kanas Center for Advanced Surgery is home to the da Vinci Surgical Robotics Program. PBMC also features Centers of Excellence in Bariatrics and Joint Replacement and is a recipient of the prestigious Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval for Total Joint Replacement for Hip and Knee.

“Nursing care is exceptional. Everything we do is focused on patient care. We’re never complacent, it’s never business as usual.”

–Bruce Lavelle, RN

#4 – Getting here is half the fun.

As beautiful as our location is, the commute here makes it even more attractive. It’s an easy and peaceful commute, through picturesque countryside.

“Eastern Long Island is kind of like another world – but one you don’t have to go too far to reach.”

–Amy Loeb, Chief Nursing Officer

#5 – Technology to write home about.

When it comes to our clinical capabilities, we refuse to compromise. This includes a brand new, state-of-the-art cardiac cath lab and electrophysiology lab, advanced OR robotics and innovative technology throughout.

“We have the latest equipment. Things we’d have to transfer patients for in the past, we get to help them right here and now. We don’t lose critical time.”

–Bruce Lavelle, RN

#6 – A nice place to visit. An even better place to live.

Although it’s just a short trip to the energy and excitement of New York City, the serene beauty of eastern Long Island makes you feel as if you’re a million miles away, except there’s plenty to do. Enjoy a relaxing day among vineyards and wineries. Explore unique boutiques and shops. Sample delicious cuisine at one of the wonderful bistros and restaurants. Or just relax as you take in the sites

“Most of my life I’ve been a Long Islander, it’s a wonderful area – world class beaches, culture, fine arts, great climate.”

–Bruce Lavelle, RN

#7 – Never a dull moment.

With approximately 30,000 emergency visits each year, we have the busiest ED on the east end of Long Island. This translates into a dynamic and fast-paced environment in all of the areas of our hospital.

#8 – Happy employees.

At Peconic Bay Medical Center, we promote an environment where our people are valued, their skills are advanced, their knowledge is expanded and their ideas are respected. This keeps us inspired, involved and engaged. Our long-term satisfaction proves it!

#9 – You learn something new every day!

Continual professional development is a priority for us. We have a “Back 2 School” program where the hospital supports cohorts of nurses going back to school. We also offer a wide variety of educational resources, including the most advanced simulation center on Long Island.

#10 – It’s the place to grow!

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to join Peconic Bay Medical Center. But the best one is that we’re just getting started with plans to grow our beautiful facilities and expand our capabilities. Right now, we’ve got great nursing opportunities to join us in these areas: